JSO

Police records show there are around 1,300 unsolved murders in Jacksonville dating back to 1970. The city has roughly the same number of unsolved murders as the entire state of Colorado. We discuss efforts to change investigation procedures and offer more support to victims' families. WJCT reporter Lindsey Kilbride, Project Cold Case executive director Ryan Backmann and JSO head of investigations Chief Tom Hackney join us.

The Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee considered funding for the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Thursday.

Sheriff Mike Williams was on hand to answer council members’ questions.

“We’ve done a lot of work prior to today to prepare you know working with the council and the mayor’s office,” Williams said. “But I think this is the kind of meeting you get when you have a council and a mayor and a sheriff that really do work together every day.”

UPDATE: A description of the two possible wallets Daniel Rowe was carrying at the time he was robbed was added.

A reward of $7,000 is being offered for information leading to an arrest in the murder of a Riverside restaurant employee.

Two men are believed to have robbed the victim before shooting him in the head.

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On Wednesday, July 22, at around 10 p.m., Daniel Rowe was taking out the trash behind the Blind Rabbit restaurant on King Street where he worked. Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Director Tom Hackney says that’s when it’s believed two men approached the 20-year-old father of two, took his wallet at gunpoint and shot him.

This week searchers in Jacksonville found the remains of two men while looking for missing toddler Lonzie Barton.

On Monday, police found the first body in the woods near the Avenues Mall. It’s believed to be a man, but it has not yet been identified. Some suspect the remains belong to Navy Chief Petty Officer Kevin Williams who went missing two years ago.

A candidate for Florida State Attorney is calling on leaders and lawmakers to find the funding to process what he calls a backlog of untested rape kits in Duval County.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office says there is no backlog, because the untested kits weren’t needed in cases where the victim was unwilling to prosecute, or when they had a confession from an identified suspect.

Public safety has emerged as a major issue in Jacksonville’s super close mayor’s race, with incumbent Mayor Alvin Brown defending his approach to this core function of government, while challenger Lenny Curry has hammered Brown’s administration on the issue of violent crime. A recent school bus shooting incident reinforced the narrative.

In particular, the Curry campaign has pounded the messaging that Brown “cut 147 police officers” from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office held a ceremony to honor the city’s fallen officers.

At the memorial, Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford said his agency strives to make a positive difference in the lives of those who are troubled. But they are far too often called upon to bury their own.

Rutherford said, “This year is especially poignant as we change our roll call and add the name of Mark Larson.”

A Jacksonville man is in stable condition after being shot by two undercover narcotics detectives from the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Wednesday night on Jacksonville’s Westside.

JSO Director Tom Hackney says two officers were stopped at a traffic light at the intersection of Fouracre Road and Wilson Boulevard just before 6:30 Wednesday evening when they saw 20-year-old Christopher Green screaming and waving a gun at a group of men.

When the officers pulled over and got out of their car, Green put the gun in his waistband, Hackney says.

Calling himself the most experienced candidate in the race, Republican Mike Williams says the JSO "needs to do more" to reach out to communities in Jacksonville who don't trust or cooperate with the police.